#97-17
Issued 2/20/97
EPA CONTACT: Richard Cahill, 212/637-3666
DOE CONTACT: Bill Wicker, 516/344-3424
BNL CONTACT: Kara Villamil, 516/344-2345
UPTON, NY - Two of 40 recent samples from six temporary monitoring wells
1,000 feet south of the High Flux Beam Reactor at the U. S. Department of
Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) show tritium levels
above the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standard
of 20,000 picocuries per liter. New wells are being installed south of the
six wells to assist in further determining the extent and depth of the contamination.
One of the recent samples indicates tritium at a level of 102,000 picocuries per liter, five times the drinking water standard. Another sample has a value of 30,300 picocuries per liter, one-and-a-half times the drinking water standard.
EPA continues to split samples with BNL and confirm
their accuracy, and continues to conclude there is no public health threat
from the contamination. On-site drinking water at the Lab is tested daily
for radioactivity, and results continue to show that tap water is not contaminated
with tritium.
DOE's continuing investigation to identify the source of the contamination
is focused on the 68,000-gallon spent fuel pool in the reactor's lower level.
Tests are being conducted to determine whether or not there is a leak from
the pool and how best to stop it in the near future. BNL has committed to
lining the pool after the spent fuel has been removed. DOE and BNL are working
with EPA and state and local regulators to address options for clean-up,
such as pumping the contaminated groundwater.
In addition, tests continue to confirm that tritium is not present above the drinking water standard in any monitoring well at BNL's southern boundary, in the path of groundwater flowing south from the tritium contamination near the reactor building.
BNL and DOE will continue to provide information
as it becomes available.
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